Strike
by MizuneMinamiki
Summary: "I know how much you like challenges, Luka, and if you really want one, then I'll give you three chances to do something that will blow my mind and make me accept you." Gakupo x Luka. Oneshot. Kinda crappy-ish, but kinda fluffy. COMPLETE


_**The first little section of this made me think of Luka wearing some kind of war uniform with guns and stuff, ready to take down Valentines Day XD**_

_**Anyways, I kinda rushed towards the end because I wanted it up before the day was over, and I'll definitely go back and add more detail and stuff...but idk when.**_

* * *

She never thought she'd find herself in such a situation, but Luka was certainly not going to back down; she was going to win his affections no matter what it took. While it was true that Gakupo was already head-over-heels in love with the pink-haired woman, a small sense of dread lingered in her heart at the possibility of some other girl winning over his heart by giving him some nice chocolates or some other small gift. After all, they weren't officially dating - she'd never even gathered the courage to say "I like you" to his face! - so he was basically just an open target for any of the Vocaloid girls to make an advance on.

An open, very _sexy_, very_ alluring_ target.

Luka gritted her teeth together as she stared out the window in her room, her sapphire gaze lingering on the deep green grass that was dusted lightly with snow. Her hand clenched into a fist, knuckles turning white as her nails bit into the soft flesh of her palm. It might be complicated, but she was going to get Gakupo, even if she wasn't sure how.

Her initial plan was to simply ask him to be her Valentine, early in the morning, before anyone else could have the chance to confront him. And when she did so, her face redder than it had ever been before, he only closed his eyes and chuckled.

"What makes you think I'll agree so easily, when you never so much as thank me for all I do for you?" Gakupo tipped his head to one side, his perfect lips quirking into a smirk. "I know how much you like challenges, Luka, and if you really want one, then I'll give you three chances to do something that will blow my mind and make me accept you."

.

She figured that she would just have to be cliche and cheesy - a box of chocolates. Homemade, of course, and finding the time to do so on Valentines Day without attracting the attention of anyone else was quite hard - everyone had been milling about excitedly before they left on dates with their lovers - but in the end, Luka had to admit that she was very pleased with the way they looked - small, round balls of rich chocolate with dark sprinkles. If she were to be truthful with herself when she first started, she had expected them to look like death.

Luka placed them carefully into a small box after popping one of them in her mouth - she had to make sure they tasted good, right? - and, pleased with the delectable flavor of the chocolate as it melted right on her tongue, she placed a lid on the box and wrapped a white ribbon around it. She clutched the gift to her chest and began hurriedly making her way up to the purple-haired man's room, leaving her mess in the kitchen for her to clean up later, or perhaps for someone else to take care of, provided anyone was still in the mansion - most of those she knew had left to go out with their loved ones, Kaito and Miku, Rin and Len, Meiko and Meito, IA and Yuuma...

When she reached his bedroom, she lifted her hand to the door and knocked gently, the box held behind her back with her other hand. She hadn't noticed that her face had been twisted into a look of anticipation until he opened the door, her facial muscles suddenly relaxing when she met his amethyst eyes.

Gakupo shoved his hands down deep into his pockets and slumped his shoulders; his eyelids fell over his dazzling eyes lazily, and he parted his lips slightly in a yawn before asking, "What's up?"

Luka shrugged; as if it weren't obvious enough, with her hands held behind her back to hide something from him! She could tell that he was interested, by the way his gaze flickered as though he were trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Just thought I'd see if you were busy."

"Why?"

"B-Because..." The pinkette trailed off, faint traces of pink delicately coloring her cheeks. She was one hundred percent certain that she felt so nervous because she didn't want to openly admit her feelings to him; merely presenting him with a box of homemade chocolates wouldn't exactly be a _confession_, would it? Her gaze had fallen to the ground, but after she sucked in a deep breath and let it out as quietly as she could, she looked up at him innocently through her thick, dark eyelashes.

Gakupo pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Sighing heavily and holding out the pretty white box with a matching ribbon, she murmured, "H-Happy Valentines Day."

The blush gracing Luka's cheeks only got even darker when she saw the look of shock on her crush's face; his eyes had widened, and they were swirling with emotion, while his own face darkened a shade. Clearly reluctant, he pulled one of his hands from his pocket and tentatively reached forward, his finger gently touching the box, all the while holding her gaze.

"For me...?" he clarified, his deep voice rich like honey, sending a tingle down Luka's spine that she easily hid, and the pinkette only nodded. Gakupo tugged lightly at the ribbon tying the box and, after a moment, he shook his head. "No."

It took Luka a moment for her mind to register his response; at first, she hadn't believed him. But the usual twinkle that would light his gaze whenever he was teasing wasn't present in that moment, and he hadn't even been smirking. As that thought washed over her, she furrowed her eyebrows, her facial features etched into a look of hurt curiosity, and the beautiful glow that had been present on her cheeks faded away.

"W-What...?" she squeaked, dropping her hands to her sides; she could hear the chocolates bouncing around within the box, but she didn't care.

Gakupo shrugged. "If you really want to win me over, you'll have to do something better than chocolate."

Luka opened her mouth to speak, but words wouldn't form on her tongue.

"Strike one, Luka."

The pinkette's sapphire eyes widened, glassy with tears that she wasn't about to let him see. Since when had she gotten so emotional, so worked-up over some _guy_? Frowning and biting the inside of her cheek, she nodded to him and muttered, "I understand."

It wasn't hard to tell that he was a little bit surprised that she'd given up so easily - where was that fighting spirit that she always boasted about, that he always had to battle against just to get some kind of recognition from her? - and, after nodding to her a couple of times and raking his eyes up and down her body as though to make sure she wasn't going to fall down in defeat any moment, Gakupo mumbled a goodbye and shut the door.

.

After a couple of hours, Luka had managed to successfully convince herself in the reason why he turned her down. Chocolates were _so_ cliché, after all! Rin had given them to Len the year before, and Miki to Piko the year before that! Heck, everyone in that mansion must've made chocolates for their loved ones at some point!

That had to have been it. No doubt, Gakupo only wanted to get something really unique from Luka, something out of the box - he wanted his mind to be blown! He wanted something that he would never expect!

It hadn't taken the pinkette very long to think of a new gift for the man, but when she did come up with something, she spent much of her time trying to figure out _how _to go about it. _How_ was she supposed to get her hands on an eggplant without attracting attention? And what if she wasn't talented enough to make this plan work?

Luka crept along the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, and as she began rifling through the refrigerator, she heard soft footsteps coming from somewhere behind her. She tensed and slammed the door shut to whirl around and face the brunette girl approaching her, but not before she got ahold of an eggplant and hid it behind her back so Meiko wouldn't be able to see it as she approached.

"Luka? What're you doing?" The brunette tipped her head to one side, a gentle smile on her lips.

"Getting...a snack..." the pinkette mumbled back, trying her hardest to fight down the blush that was creeping up her neck and settling on her cheeks.

"Oh!" Meiko padded over to her, no sign of sarcasm in her voice. She was completely genuine, not even a hint of mischief swirling in her chestnut eyes like normal - Luka thought for a moment that the brunette's outing with her genderbend must've been one wonderful date to strip Meiko of her teasing personality for a short while. "Whatcha having? Can I have some, too?"

Luka's hesitation caught Meiko's attention, and the brunette tipped her head to one side in sincere curiosity before she moved towards the pinkette with slow steps.

"Are you...hiding something?"

"N-No..." Luka moved away from the refrigerator, her hands still held behind her back; she took a few steps away from her friend as the woman stepped towards her, turning so that Meiko didn't have the chance to see the eggplant she'd been hiding - part of her wondered if Meiko would've even made a big deal out of it had she just showed her without trying to keep it a secret. But now, she was sure to be victim to the constant teasing of her brunette friend.

"Why do you seem so embarrassed?"

"I-I'm not embarrassed..."

"Then why're you stuttering?"

"I-I'm...not?"

"Luka." Meiko's gaze was serious, her lips pressing into a thin line as she stopped and crossed her arms.

The pinkette could tell that she was being silently judged, and she squirmed slightly at the thought; she'd already been upset enough by Gakupo's rejection, and she didn't want to deal with Meiko's motherly wisdom that would probably put her down even more. She squeezed the eggplant in her hands, her body tensing as Meiko spoke to her.

"Is this about a guy?"

She wanted to shake her head fiercely, to deny it, but instead, she found herself giving a slow nod.

"Ah." Meiko's expression softened a little, and she extended her hand towards Luka to touch the pink-haired woman's shoulder. "Did he hurt you? Boys are dumb, you know."

"This one was..." Luka trailed off, wetting her lips. She was too nervous to talk to Meiko about this; she didn't want anyone besides Gakupo to know about it! They would never let her live it down if they'd found out that she was trying to win over the purple-haired pervert by working her ass off to make him nice chocolates or some kind of fancy eggplant-related thing that she had no guarantee that he would like. For some reason, the possibility of having all of the others knowing such a thing terrified her. "...it was my fault this time."

"Well..." Meiko offered the pinkette a soft smile. "You know how to fix it, don't you?"

Luka blinked, taken aback by the question. Did she know what to do that would surely make him accept her as his _Valentine_? As his _lover_?

Anything should've worked, but she knew that he wasn't going to let her take the easy way out on this - not after all that she'd put him through in the past.

"I...don't know," she admitted. Her sapphire eyes shone with a pain that Meiko had never seen before, and the brunette, startled, backed away from Luka as she began to shuffle towards the hallway, where she could reach the stairs and head up to her own room and not be bothered by anyone.

"If you need any help with anything, you know that I'm here, right?" Meiko prompted.

Luka nodded a couple of times, whirling around and heading down the hall, her footsteps pounding on the floor loud enough to draw the attention of anyone who had been in the mansion of the time. But if they had heard, they didn't show it; she managed to get into her bedroom without being interrupted at all, and once she was there, leaning back against her door, she thought of Meiko and wondered if the brunette suspected anything.

But if she did, she certainly wouldn't say anything. Meiko was sweet, loving, and motherly, and she hated to see people hurting - and if it came down to it, Luka was certain that Meiko's shoulder would be the one she cried on.

.

"Eggplant art...who would've thought...?"

Gakupo admired the plump purple fruit in his hands, the unique scent of it wafting up to his nose - Luka had carved into the damn thing with a knife, and while it had been hard to still her shaking hands and make a work of art out of a base so...unusual, she had to admit that she was quite pleased with the turnout. It was a rose, and while it wasn't as pretty as the apple art pieces she'd seen on the Internet, it was still nice. Though, she still seemed uncomfortable, her back slouching while she wrung her hands nervously in front of herself.

His amethyst eyes travelled over every little detail of his second gift as he turned the eggplant around in his hands, and a smile had even begun to form on his lips. He looked back to Luka and said, "I like it."

Luka perked up. "You do?"

The purple-haired man nodded. "Yes, but..."

_But. _Luka felt as though he'd carved right into her heart with the same knife she'd used on that eggplant, digging in and twisting until she felt absolutely miserable. She clenched her hands into fists, grinding her teeth together as her feathery bangs fell over her eyes and cast shadows onto her face.

"I won't accept it. Strike two...Luka." Gakupo held out the eggplant for her to take back.

But she didn't.

Instead, she tilted her head back to stare defiantly into his eyes and chewed down on the inside of her cheek for a moment, letting out a ragged breath before she growled, "What's wrong with it?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, Luka. It's gorgeous, really."

She frowned. "Then why?"

Gakupo tilted his head to one side. "Huh?"

"Are you deaf!?" Luka's eyes burned with a hot fire. "Why won't you accept it!? I slaved for hours over that piece of shit eggplant because I thought you might like it! And don't even get me started on the chocolates! Do you realize how much thought went into this shit? And you won't even accept it!?"

He had clearly not expected the beautiful pink-haired girl to erupt the way she did, but he didn't show any signs of utter shock; his eyes had widened slightly, and _perhaps_ there was a hint of a smile dancing on his lips, but Luka knew that it could've easily been her imagination. Gakupo told her, "I won't accept it because the only thing that I really want from you is some kind of confession."

At any normal time, she would've denied any suggestion at liking him, but now, Luka only snarled, "_Confession!?_ You want a _confession_!? I don't think so! Haven't my gifts been 'confession' enough?! I mean, how often would you find me working my pretty little ass off for a pervert like you!?"

Gakupo stepped back into his room for a moment, leaning over to place the eggplant on a shelf that he had setting near the door - he didn't want to destroy the thing; he'd have to take some nice pictures of it - and moved towards her again. "Luka, you should calm down; you'll catch everyone's attention."

"I don't care," she hissed, shooting him a venomous glare from the corner of her eyes. "You started it. You started it, and you'll have to deal with your stupid mistakes, because until this blows over, I'm not even_ looking_ at you."

"Luka!" Gakupo reached for her, snatching her by the wrist and pulling her closer. He didn't encase her in a hug, but rather, he held her tight enough that even she couldn't break from that iron grip, and all she could do was glare up at him with her teeth gritting together in complete frustration. "You won me over before the third strike, you know."

"Asshole," she seethed. "I didn't even confess."

"Yea, but I think this is about as close as I'm gonna get, right?"

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_**See, urk, compared to the Piko/Miki one, this is crap. D: Rushed and kinda lacking in awesome detail. But not bad, I suppose. Not bad at all. :D**_

_**Reviews are appreciated! Thanks a bunch for reading!**_

_**(:Mizune**_


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